


Death's Night Off

by AmuletStormfall



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: A tasteful dash of romance, Canon Compliant, F/M, Friendship, Just about Pre-NEOTWEWY, Partner Exploration, Post-Game(s), very slight mentions of Minamimoto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmuletStormfall/pseuds/AmuletStormfall
Summary: “Happy deathday.” Kariya’s lips curled upwards into a smile.Uzuki wasn’t pleased. In fact, she was in a foul mood.But that was old news.---Kariya and Uzuki spend their night off at an izakaya and reminisce about a very special day.[ For exquisitefrogprince as part of The World Exchanges With You 2020. ]
Relationships: Kariya Koki & Yashiro Uzuki, Kariya Koki/Yashiro Uzuki
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: The World Exchanges With You 2020





	Death's Night Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [exquisitefrogprince](https://archiveofourown.org/users/exquisitefrogprince/gifts).



“Happy deathday.” Kariya’s lips curled upwards into a smile. 

Uzuki wasn’t pleased. In fact, she was in a _foul_ mood.

But that was old news.

She rolled her shoulders back trying to alleviate the tension that had gathered around there. An easier task to accomplish with her wings hidden away. Glancing at the decal tucked messily in the corner of the _izakaya_ , she frowned. 

It might be true that there wasn’t a Reaper’s Game this week but that didn’t mean she was comfortable being in a shop where a Player could just waltz in. Mostly because any Players she had antagonised throughout the day would surely make a ruckus if they saw her in the shop and that wouldn’t be good for the UG if too much attention was drawn to a Reaper such as herself.

Not that it mattered in this situation, anyway. It was way past the time that they would keep Players conscious for, even if a Game was running. The clock hanging behind the counter showed that they were coming close to the end of the day. That, of course, meant that the _izakaya_ was filled with the usual suspects; a hilarious combination of tired, noisy old businessmen and unsuspecting tourists who most likely were told that this was an unmissable experience. 

She wondered why Kariya would bring her here, of all places, on such a ‘special’ day. 

“Happy deathday,” she said, though with a tangible amount of cheer missing. 

“What’s soured your mood today?” 

“Am I, like, supposed to be in a good mood?”

“Yeah, actually. Thought our deathdays were one of the few breaks you liked. And you’re dodging my question.”

Tch.

Stupid, Kariya. He knew that he wasn’t going to have to coax her all too much for her to spill the beans. She was aware that she was, more often than not, the one who was going to start complaining out loud, even without being asked. “I just ran into some other Harriers trash-talking me earlier today. Think it took them a full minute to realise I was standing right there.” She could remember the exact moment they registered her presence and their expressions froze up rather comically. “They turned tail right after.”

“Strange, you don’t usually care what the other Harriers have to say.”

“I don’t.”

“So why so frazzled, then?”

Though Kariya was asking all these questions, it didn’t seem to be out of concern. As she expected, he was taking a bit of fun out of probing her. She could tell because he had the slightest twitch in his lips. Most people weren’t as good as her at reading him and might have missed that. They were Partners after all.

“Urgh! They called me an ‘Old Hag’ okay?”

“Oh, that bites.”

A second later, Kariya summoned the bartender with a loud ‘excuse me!’ and proceeded to order several dishes and drinks. During all this, Uzuki had crossed her arms, looking between Kariya and the bartender furiously. Was that all he had to say about this?

The jolly-faced bartender (looking slightly less jolly after a seething look from Uzuki) dashed away to attend to another customer. 

“And now we’ve got _our_ bites coming along soon.”

“Zing.” Uzuki said, with as much spite as one could say the word with. 

“Easy, girl. ‘Can’t just go around takin’ my catchphrases now. Gonna lose my branding that way.” 

“You’ve already lost it. Where’s your lollipop?”

“Thought you were gonna give me one.”

“Urgh.” She grudgingly reached into her pocket to retrieve one.“You’re lucky I got this before I ran into those punks.”

“Right.” He straightened his back, which had been slouched in his usual terrible posture. “You’re actually ticked off about what they said, huh? What gives? Players call us names all the time.”

“Sure, but the pipsqueaks were calling us wash-ups too. Old-timers. Can you believe the nerve? After all we’ve done to try and get things to be better for Reapers. I wanted to create a rewarding work environment, remember? Not sure how well that’s working out if we’ve got some runts bad-mouthing us.”

She could feel her shoulders tense up again but dismissed it this time.

“Gotcha. You aren’t satisfied with how things are moving along.”

“Not even a little bit close to satisfied.”

The look that Kariya was giving her informed her that _he_ at least was satisfied with that answer. That meant that he didn’t deem anything she had said out of the ordinary. Her mind pounced on the thought that it also meant that he didn’t think she could accomplish the change she had wanted to make since she declared it three years ago. She would argue against that, however, as three years ago she would immediately chew him out once the thought occurred. At present, she could hold her tongue. 

Kariya hadn’t unwrapped his lollipop; he had been fiddling within, rolling it on the counter. The movement stopped and he picked it up and wagged it at her. “Uzuki, ya remember why we’re celebrating your deathday?”

It _was_ her deathday, not his.

“Of course, I remember. It’s -”

“‘Cause I remember it like it was just yesterday. We were both still brats, much like those Reapers you probably overheard.”

Urgh, great, she thought, here we go.

xxx

“Argh!” Uzuki was _pissed._ No matter what she tried, the points that she was racking up per week in a Game wasn’t improving. It didn’t help that one of the other Harriers, who was barely a year older than her, was rumoured to be the talk of the top brass. It was ridiculous; the rumours even said that he might be in the running for a promotion. That would make him the youngest ever Officer.

It aggravated her, even more, to know that he had come through the same Game as her.

She was constantly overshadowed in her life and just when she thought she had a chance to make something of herself in her afterlife at least, she was being upstaged _again._

Even when she was on the field right now, trying to do her job and Minamimoto was wherever-the-hell, most likely making a mess somewhere. 

“Yo, Yashiro, how’s it hangin’?” 

Oh, joy, another annoyance. 

She had chosen the top of this building so that she would not be disturbed. Unlike a lot of her peers, who preferred to keep their feet on the ground, she didn’t hesitate to make full use of the wings that she was granted. This spot allowed her to watch as people hurried along their day and to see straggling Players that made for easy pickings. There was something comforting in the way that they could all look so _small_ from up here.

Yashiro acknowledged the other Reaper that joined her with a wave of her hand, as he came up to stand beside her. 

“Ooh, spyin’ on folks again, are we? Thought you’d be out there preying on the Players by now.”

“I did. I snagged a pair earlier but it was, like, too easy.”

“Getting bored that quick? You haven’t even been here a year yet.”

“No, but I’ve been dead for one year exactly.”

She didn’t mean for that to slip out. It wasn’t that she was trying to keep track of it but it was a pretty hard thing to forget about. When the seasons passed in the UG same way they did in the RG, it was difficult not to notice the date creeping up. Especially when she thought she would have accomplished a lot more after a year of being dead.

“Aight, aight, close enough then,” he said, seeming to realise that he had affronted her.

He offered her a lollipop, to which she immediately declined.

“I’m not going to snack on the job.”

“Right, we should go for a proper meal.”

xxx

Uzuki found herself caught in her fellow Reaper’s pace for the rest of that day. Granted, the Game Master that particular day set the mission to be relatively long and difficult one for a but that didn’t really justify to her why she would be skipping out like this, especially when she still had the dilemma of her dwindling progress. 

Still, she couldn’t argue against the fact that ramen she was eating was delicious and she _had_ been hungry. Her companion for the day had insisted that this would be the best one she’d taste so far and he was right. Apparently, this ramen shop, in particular, was popular with Reapers. The restaurant owner was none the wiser about the fact that the majority of his customers weren’t alive. There were a lot of little things that Kariya - if she was remembering his name correctly - seemed to know about the ins and outs of being a Reaper that she hadn’t thought of. 

This hadn’t been the first time that she ran into him during a Game. While other Harriers were normally busy doing their own thing, Kariya liked to stop by to say ‘hi’, drop a tip or two about the Game and then disappear off somewhere. She didn’t consider herself a snoop but she _was_ curious as to what he got up to. 

She was aware of how Minamimoto was gaining his notoriety; he had a knack for erasing even the most slippery of Players. Kariya, on the other hand, was a mystery. Harriers who didn’t do well wouldn’t be around anymore but Kariya was present week after week and she was aware that he got higher scores than her. 

Uzuki thought that she might get a hint about how to improve on her own but this excursion to a ramen shop didn’t seem to be lending her anything useful. 

The only thing she did note was that Kariya was a slow eater and seemed to somehow gain possession of another lollipop right after eating. She wondered if it was possible that this was where he was getting his endless supply from. She asked him this and he laughed, with an ‘I wonder’. Totally unnecessary because it didn’t really matter where they came from but somehow still managed to peeve her. 

No, okay, it wasn’t the only thing she noticed. When they left the ramen shop she could see the ease in which he transitioned back into his Reaper’s form. His wings took form, becoming fully opaque before she could blink. He did so immediately after being out of sight from the shop. Peeking into the thoughts of the surrounding people, she could tell that no one noticed him disappeared. She tried to follow suit. 

‘ _Hm...did that girl just disappear?’_

_‘Oh gosh, though I, like, totes just saw something weird? Huh..oh well.’_

_‘I’ve definitely stayed up too late, I should have stopped at episode fourteen…’_

She did not yet have the hang of this yet. 

Kariya told her to keep tagging along, promising that they were going to do ‘something fun’. After slacking off so far, she thought she might as well. While she wouldn’t exactly describe Kariya as ‘graceful’ he did fly through Shibuya like it was nothing. It was almost too contradictory; his expression made it seem like this was effortless like he was flying just because he was too lazy to walk. But compared to her, it seemed so much more natural. 

Her landing was messy and she stumbled forward slightly as they found themselves at Miyashita Park. This would have annoyed her if not for what greeted them there.

“I spy with my little eyes. Two stray Players.” She grinned. 

“Alright, and I spy a chance for a little game. How about it, Yashiro? First one to erase a Player wins?”

“Ooh, now you’re talking.”

Now, _this_ was what she wanted. A bit of a challenge. These Players made it to the sixth day so they weren’t complete pushovers. She had been watching them, though. She knew what kind of pins they were probably using and tailored the noise she set on them accordingly. It felt good when that hard work paid off. She whittled the Player she was attacking until she could finally finish them off with one more Noise. Really, these Players needed to check underneath their feet more.

“So, that’s a tie then.”

The two Players seemed to fizzle out almost simultaneously.

She crossed her arms. “Looks like it.”

“Hm, a tie is no fun. We should up the stakes next time. Loser buys the other ramen. Whaddya say?”

“Fine, but after tomorrow, I can’t afford to keep ranking low.”

At this, Kariya gave her an enthused smile. “Well, there isn’t a game tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Those were the last two Players.”

Uzuki dropped her arms, shocked. The last two? On the sixth day? She had never managed to be the one to end the game. Someone else always managed to get to them first. Not least players who managed to reach this point. 

“Is this how you rack up your points?” she asked, staring at the empty spot where the Players had just been standing.

She was momentarily aware of the weight of erasing a Player but she brushed that thought off as quick as it came. You couldn’t be a Reaper if you entertained those thoughts.

“Well, today the GM told me where the last players were. Figured it’d lighten your mood. But nah, I usually just jump in when I feel like it.” He shrugged. “Not a big fan of routines, ya know?”

He was certainly right about that. Although they would have to report this as being the result of both of them, she would still have this in her record as ending a Game. 

“Why’d you help me out?” It occurred to her to ask because this was exactly the win she needed and she hadn’t told him that she was trying to get ahead. 

“What? With your score? Like I said, I just thought you’d want to join in. Plus, it seemed like fun.”

Kariya, after a great success like this, was standing in a relaxed posture, one hand in his pocket, the other still holding the lollipop he had from earlier. There wasn’t an ulterior motive or anything, she realised. He probably really just went with the flow with what he thought would be most entertaining. Did that mean that he got all those points without even trying? 

Her first instinct was to be irritated at it but she couldn’t help but admire that to an extent too.

“Fun...huh...”

“Yeah, fun. All work, no play, makes a dull Reaper. So, did you have fun on your deathday?”

“Deathday?”

“Yeah, since you said you died this time last year. Sorta like a birthday but the opposite. Might as well celebrate making it this far as a Reaper,” he said.

 _Making it this far._ When she really considered it. There were a lot of Reapers that were still stuck as Support and were here far longer than her. She had gone straight into being a Harrier. Maybe she was making more progress than she had first thought.

“Doesn’t sound too bad, I guess.”

She supposed that one day a year of taking it easy wouldn’t be too bad.

Especially it meant reaching new achievements like this. 

“Hey. You want to make a Pact with me?” 

While it may seem like it came of left field, Uzuki knew a bunch of the other Reapers had pacts. If she made a pact with Kariya, surely there would be more opportunities for her to rise up. It was a gut feeling that she had and while she rarely made her decisions based on that, this time she was certain this was the right thing to do. If he accepted, of course.

This was the first time she had seen him looking anything but relaxed, his expression shifting to surprise. 

Even then, his response didn’t take more than a moment.

“Sure, why not?” 

He extended his right hand and she did the same. The moment they were clasped together, a bright light shone and she could _feel_ something change within her. As the light ebbed she couldn’t help but feel like this was all a bit showy. She didn’t want to make this pact thing too big of a deal...

“So, you going to, like, help me file this report?”

“Ick, right now? Can’t we chill for a bit more, Yashiro? I mean we just made a pact and all -”

“Yes, now! We can celebrate more _after_ my points for this week are added up.”

“Aight, whatever ya say.”

“Oh, and just ‘Uzuki’ is fine, by the way.”

xxx

She couldn’t believe it had been four years since then. “Why’d you come around to check on me so much at the start, anyway?”

Kariya downed what must have been his third drink, not that she was keeping a close count. “Heh. You lost your temper a lot more easily back then. You always seemed on edge...guess it was a little game with myself to see how much I could prod you before you snapped at me.” His smile was lazy, perhaps lazier than usual. “You never really seemed too mad at me, though.”

“That’s ‘cause you were at least competent.” 

“Minamoto was competent,” he reasoned.

“Yeah but he just _annoyed_ me.”

She looked at the clock on the wall once again. Past midnight.

“Hey.” Kariya tapped her hand. “Happy birthday.”

Uzuki almost choked on the last bit of sashimi was trying to finish. 

“What - _how?”_ Her question was shrill, so loud that even the bar’s other guests turned to look at her. Looks like losing her temper was still a thing.

She grabbed Kariya by the arm, tossing some money onto the table and pulling him out into the streets. None of the people passing by noticed when they brought their wings back out.

“How’d you know about my birthday? And don’t you ‘easy, girl’ me, okay?” Reapers didn’t go around sharing that kind of personal info. She and Kariya were close but she was sure she hadn’t divulged in that particular detail.

“I’ve known for ages. You were screaming about having to run around on your birthday during your first day of the Game. That and it’s in your file. Which I _didn’t_ snoop at before you say that, I was the one who had to do your paperwork for when you became a Reaper so I knew when your birthday was.”

“And you never brought up that you knew about my birthday before _because - ?”_

“If you wanted to celebrate your birthday you would have mentioned it to me.” As always, he had the right read on her. 

“So, you mentioned it this year, why?”

He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “Gonna be completely honest with you. Might have had one too many drinks just now. It just kinda happened.”

Wow. She could not believe this. Kariya may be laid back but he was still careful. 

“Wait, so if you looked at my file then you knew that was a year after I died before I told you, didn’t you?”

“I just remembered thinking it must suck to die a day before your birthday. That day, in particular, I did hop over to you to see how you were holding up. But you were down in the dumps not because of that but because of work, of all things.”

“Wow.”

If she was thinking about this rationally. It wasn’t his fault that he knew this information, he was assigned to look through her file. She’s processed plenty new Reapers now, herself. Him knowing this wasn’t going to change much, though it did feel like he somehow had the upper hand on her when she hadn’t shared it with him herself. Well, the more important thing was to consider - 

“Alright but just ‘cause you know it’s my birthday does _not_ mean that we’re going to celebrate it and have _two_ days off in a row. Got it?”

He blinked at her. 

“Haha, I should have seen that coming.” He sank back into his relaxed posture. “You sure about that? You only turn twenty once.”

“Ahah, so _that’s_ why you brought us to an _izakaya_! You wanted to get away with having a hangover tomorrow.”

“C’mon, what’s _one_ more day off gonna do?”

“You’re not changing my mind and in any case, I’d bet my whole week’s worth of points that I could drink you under the table. But I’m not going to because we’ve got a Game on later.” She poked at his chest. “We already celebrated the more important day so I don’t want to hear any more about taking today off.”

He grabbed her hand. “More important, huh?”

“Yes,” she said, adamantly with a small huff. “We made our pact that day, so duh.”

“Mmhmm.”

She saw the wide grin that he had on. “Don’t look so pleased with yourself. Our pact is important for me in a career sense.”

“No need to be so defensive, girl. What, you got a crush on me or something?”

Tch. He knew the answer to _that_ one. 

As he pulled her in closer she just had to make it clear one last time.

“We’re _not_ taking the day - ”

He may have cut her off but she was sure that he got the message.

**Author's Note:**

> Tadaa! This is a bit of a departure from the characters I usually write, seeing as how I do tend to write around the Players a bit more but I love Kariya and Uzuki too so this was the perfect opportunity to get out of my comfort zone. I have to say that I did have refer to the script a few times to see exactly how Kariya's lingo is like. He and Uzuki are a bit tricky but I hope I managed to get the flavour of their personalities right. 
> 
> That said I hope that you enjoyed your gift because I agree, they totally do need more content. And I hope that the romantic aspect was fine, I wasn't quite sure how to balance it too well with what I wanted to cover in the fic at first. This was super fun to write though so maybe I'll write them more at some point. Anyway, happy holidays and thanks to everyone reading!


End file.
